scaleface

I made crankbaits and had to shave the lips on all of them . I had some neat results where the lures would kick out and some that didnt work at all . I used a dremel tool with sanding drum .

This is a little off topic but I have a Shimano Compere Light action bait casting rod . I lost so many bass on that wimpy rod that I no longer use it .

Looks like they came with weedless hooks ,mjust Google Sisson crankbaits .

I have some flat Lee Sissons , the eyes and lip are not the same but the red gill looks the same .

They might be Lee Sissons Lures . I think he was with Bagleys then started his own company .

I use to fish almost every day . I had a Dodge panel van and I put rod racks in it. When I got off work I'd go fishing . I hit a lot of irrigation ditches and lakes formed by levees on the Mississippi river . Lots of big bass in those spots . I had good balance in those days and use to tightrope down concrete culverts , flip a jig and land 5 to 7 lb bass consistently and never fell in . LOL How many days consecutively , I have no idea but it was a lot .

I primarily bass fish but if I get on the whites out on the flats I will wear them out . The channels and blues are usually mixed in with them and a channel cat will just smash a Red Eye Shad on the drop . I think they try to get it before the white bass so they hit hard and are run with it .

Its rare when there is 5 foot of clarity here . Its usually less than 2 foot , sometimes just an inch or two . I like about two foot of visibility . I can catch fish shallow all summer and still hit the points , humps and brush piles down to about 15 foot .

Not much in the way if zigzag lines there . The mouth of the cove , as Catt stated , has those two areas that act like mini points . I've ran patterns fishing mouths of coves .

There are so many choices now days that it gets confusing . The rule of thumb is to use a hook that has a bite at least twice the diameter of the bait . I prefer a offset roundbend most of the time others use EWG's exclusively . For most fishing I'll choose a hook slightly bigger than twice the width . It was a lot simpler when I started out .

Did you try a deep diving crank ? 10 foot is the Norman Deep Little N's sweet zone .

Yep , just a guess ,Even the water color looks like Twain plus its low also .

Looks like Twain . I fish down the bank , fish the edges . Too much cover to fish it all . I'm going to take a wild guess and say that is indeed Twain and in the shell branch . That second photo , man that looks familiar . One productive way for me is to navigate through the trees and parallel cast the banks the best I can with crankbaits and Texas rigs next to cover . Cast right next to the bank .The Berkely Dredger 10.5 is a good choice and also shallow divers like the Rapala Crankin Rap in shad patterns . Cover water . Small coves in these areas hold more fish than straight banks . Fish the mouth and inside of them more thoroughly . If they are not biting in the creeks try the main lake .

One difference is from bank your usually fishing uphill from a boat your often fishing downhill .

I dont know . Bass are so unpredictable I fish pretty much the same way and places in fall that I do in summer . Same creeks , coves , points , dropoffs , brushpiles, laydowns.... Somedays i'll find bass in the backs of creeks filling up on shad but I find the same thing some days in summer too .

I put them on a rope stringer then drag them behind the boat all day. That way they get plenty of O2 running through there gills.

Thats why I made the buzzbait comment . Instead of money ship the winner a couple of lures .

I'll throw in some homemade buzzbaits .

I dont get to fish as often as I use too and when I do its in local waters that I know very well . So well over 90 per cent of the time I use a lure in these four classes . Texas rigged Soft plastic / jigs Crankbaits Long lipped / short lipped / lipless Spinnerbaits Buzzbaits

Heres my original post . "When sharpening a knife drawing the sharpener away from the edge creates a false ,weak edge . I think a hook would get he same results . " Cat then said it was done from heel to toe , so I took it he meant from spine to front . I remove steel a couple of ways but always finish from front to spine Pushing the edge into the cutting medium . Then add a micro bevel and finally a loaded strop . The strop is done from spine to front . This all started with a rusty hook post . LOL

Catt laugh . We both have Schrade Sharp fingers you sharpen yours up heel to toe i'll sharpen mine up toe to heel. Then lets send them to a bassresource member who will volunteer to run them through a series of test .

I'm in the knife forums too and learned how to sharpen from the experts . Heel to toe creates a weak edge .

When sharpening a knife drawing the sharpener away from the edge creates a false ,weak edge . I think a hook would get he same results .

My favorite follow up bait for a missed strike on a topwater is a weightless lizard with a big heavy hook to add casting weight . Keep in mind that I discovered this a long time ago when there wasnt such a thing as Senkos , flukes .... It works so well that I just havent changed . Just throw it where the strike happened and let it sink .

Yeah , I knew that . When fishing in a kayak one is limited to how many combos that can be carried . Short rods make it easier to impart action on top waters . I can walk a spook around a stump with an old 5.5 foot pistol grip Lightning rod . Short rods are unpopular but thats what I use for walking baits .